Citymapper: All Live Transit

Citymapper Review: Nearly Everything Free, but Only 31 US Regions Covered

What stays free, and what CLUB adds for $1.49 a month

In May 2023, two months after Via bought the company, the features that had sat behind CLUB went free: voice instructions, Lock Screen navigation on iPhone and the Walk Less, Simple, Mixed, Bus+, Train+, Turbo and Price routing modes. CLUB became an ad-free tier at £1.49 a month, half the earlier price, with the same figure set for every currency. The US App Store now lists CLUB at $1.49 and $9.99, plus a CLUB+ item at $99.99 that the listing does not explain. Some extras have drifted back since. A developer reply on Google Play from mid-2026 says Bus+ is part of CLUB again, while free users keep two bus-only options, and the AI route picks reached subscribers first on March 4, 2026. Under the terms, purchases are non-refundable and renewal stops only if you cancel at least 24 hours before it. Prices are regional and may change.

Bus positions every minute, and the 35% accuracy claim

Trip results start from open agency data, including MTA, CTA, LA Metro, MBTA, WMATA, SEPTA, NJ Transit and BART, and the company layers its own traffic modelling on top. Bus locations on the map refresh every minute, and its blog says traffic-adjusted arrival times are 35% more accurate than official sources, a figure that comes from the company itself. Bus diversions now appear on the map with skipped stops marked, though the rollout is gradual. GO adds the best carriage to board, the best station exit and a get-off alert, and since 2025 the steps re-time themselves if you walk faster or miss a bus. The weak point is still the feed. Of the 150 newest English Google Play reviews, posted from August 30 to October 1, 2026, 33 gave one or two stars, and nine of those describe wrong times or buses that never came.

31 US regions on the official list, and the cities missing from it

The cities page lists 31 US regions, and several bundle many cities. The Ohio region covers Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Akron, New York takes in Jersey City, Newark and Stamford, and a single region runs from Los Angeles to San Diego. Chattanooga joined through a partnership with its CARTA bus network. The 2025 year-end recap claims every major US metro area and 430 cities worldwide, yet Sacramento, Nashville, New Orleans, Orlando and Tampa are absent from the list. Outside a covered region there is no transit routing; riders can only vote for their city to be added next. Inside one, the app goes past directions: tickets can be bought in the app in Miami and Chattanooga, and on-demand rides booked in Miami, St. Louis and Fort Worth. For comparison, Transit covers more than 1,000 cities, and Moovit claims 3,500 across 112 countries.

Ads, Via ownership and where your location goes

Both stores flag advertising, and the company sells it openly: App Takeovers, Local Ads that pin shops on the map, custom map icons and in-journey video ads, pitched on an average trip of 28 minutes. The ads look light; only three of the 150 newest English reviews mention them, all inside five-star ratings, and an ad can be hidden from its blue triangle marker. The privacy policy, updated August 10, 2026, says location is read while the app is on screen and in the background during GO, and that, depending on your ad settings, device identifiers and usage data go to advertising partners whose tools may also collect location. Apple's privacy label lists usage data used for tracking. New York-based Via Transportation has owned Citymapper since March 2023. Its AI route summaries use a third-party tool that, the company says, never receives your start, end, home or work addresses.